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Cyborg Self: Extensions, Adaptations, and Integrations of Technology Within the Body

As the growth of wearable devices continues to expand, humans are developing an ever-expanding toolset of extensions, insertions, and interventions that lead us to question the future of hybridization in our physical evolution. These new technologies change how we use innovative devices to experience the world within augmented bodies. The SIGGRAPH 2017 Studio presents a broad range of concepts related to the convergence of the physical body and evolving technologies with an emphasis on wearables, e-textiles, bio-tech, and sensory extensions across physical and virtual platforms.

Scan the QR code on each contributor’s sign and listen to the description of the work in your language!

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Recently, fabrication tools such as 3D printers have become widely available. So have prototyping tools that can print solid objects, such as electric circuits. But 3D printers are still slow. Recycling is difficult because the filament material in most printers is for one-time use only. And it is difficult to reprint circuits because they are integrated into the printed objects.

ActMold, which can quickly mold 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) objects, is an evolving solution to these issues. It combines a dynamical shape display and a vacuum-forming system that can reuse molded objects, and it prints patterns of conductive ink on a plastic sheet in advance, so the objects can work as electronic interfaces. Before modifying the plastic sheet, the user can print a circuit on its surface with conductive ink to add computational functions to the molded prototypes. After printing the circuit, the user can create 2.5D objects using vacuum forming. When heat is applied to the molded object, it can be reversed to a flat surface. The system allows users to change design repeatedly. After the plastic material is soft again, the user can remove the components and erase the printed circuit by rubbing the surface with acetone.

Junichi Yamaoka
Keio University

Yasuaki Kakehi
Keio University

Yoshihiro Kawahara
The University of Tokyo

Interactive Systems Based on Electrical Muscle Stimulation

In this hands-on demonstration of several interactive systems based on electrical muscle stimulation, wearable devices allow attendees, for example, to transform their arms in interactive plotters, physically learn how to manipulate objects they never seen before, feel walls and forces in virtual reality, etc.

Aerial manipulation of material objects is fascinating and is used in many performance situations. Many scientific demonstrations and magic shows employ acoustic, magnetic, electric, and superconductive levitation.

This study focuses on superconductive levitation because it has not been well explored for entertainment applications. Superconductive levitation requires different elements compared to other methods of levitation. For example, the systems often include liquid nitrogen, because superconductivity requires low temperatures, which limits levitation to 10 minutes or less.

One promising approach combines computational fabrication and manipulation methods to achieve superconductive levitation and manipulation of 3D printed objects. Computational design methods of superconductive levitation have wide applications not only in entertainment, but also in other HCI contexts.

This research presents a method for designing haptic macrotextures with magnetic rubber sheets. Magnetic Plotter is a desktop digital-plotting machine combined with a tiny neodymium magnet that writes fine magnetic patterns on the surface of a magnetic rubber sheet. This method enables users to freely design magnetic fields with inexpensive commercially available materials as if they are drawing pictures, and when the magnetic sheets are rubbed together, unique haptic stimuli are displayed on the fingers. The haptic stimuli can be designed by the magnetic patterns plotted on the rubber sheets.

The main contributions of this research are:

• A demonstration of the concept of rewritable magnetic-field designs utilizing magnetic rubber sheets and a neodymium magnet.

• Establishment of a method for designing particular haptic surfaces on the magnetic sheets.

• Implementation of the whole system using commercialized materials, equipment, and software.

Kentaro Yasu
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Materialization of Motions: Tangible Representation of Dance Movements for Learning and Archiving

This system fabricates tangible 3D human forms to learn and archive dance movements. It analyzes patterns of musical tempo and rhythm, combines them with dynamic dancing shapes captured by a depth camera, and outputs data to a 3D printer. Appropriate movements are extracted from the file at every constant tempo by analyzing the tempo of the music played while the dance is performed. The 3D printer enables tangible modeling of the dance movements.

In recent years, wearable computing has become widespread. For example, devices of various shapes such as smart watches, smart glasses, and clothing are common. But because wearable computing is equipped with various sensors, batteries, etc., it tends to be too expensive to be a daily necessity for many people. System design is also expensive.

Textile++, a fiber-based system that can be applied to various fields, including wearable computing, confronts these cost challenges. Based on the principle of resistive touch-sensing, it consists of two conductive fibers and one nonconductive fiber. Stroking the cloth with a finger reveals the XY coordinate position and pressure of the finger. Since the sensing component is comprised of cloth, it can be applied directly to conventional clothing construction through methods such as folding and sewing. It can be manufactured at very low cost compared with conventional fiber touch-sensing technology.

Whoa Board: Interactive Lighting for Wearables and Beyond

Electroluminescent (EL) materials come in various forms, including wires, panels, and paint. They are light and flexible. Their power requirements are low. And they even can produce illumination over large areas. This makes them well suited for integrating lighting into everything from wearables to complex architectural installations. The Whoa Board is the first device that makes it possible to design interactive commodity-level EL materials, without requiring additional hardware or modification of the EL elements.

At its core, the Whoa Board builds on a novel capacitive-sensing circuit that can tolerate the required EL-driving voltages, and it's fast enough to perform measurements without visible flicker. This circuit is presented in a package designed to be convenient for integrating into wearable (or otherwise portable) applications. However, it is also capable of performing measurements on large EL panels that are powered from a dedicated supply.

The Whoa Board is open-source, Arduino-IDE-compatible, and conforms to the three most wildly used hardware serial protocols. This means it's easy to augment EL sensing and control circuitry with everything from accelerometer measurements to wireless connectivity (it is drop-in compatible with Buetooth-capable radios).